Status epilepticus due to COVID-19; a cases series and literature review

Mohsen Kheradmand; Helia Hemasian; Fariborz Khorvash; Mohammad Reza Najafi; Keyvan Ghadimi; Khatereh Forouharnejad; Mohammad Amin Najafi

Status epilepticus due to COVID-19; a cases series and literature review

Am J Neurodegener Dis. 2022 Jun 20;11(2):34-45. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Mohsen Kheradmand^{1

2}, Helia Hemasian^{1

2}, Fariborz Khorvash^{1

2}, Mohammad Reza Najafi^{1

2}, Keyvan Ghadimi³, Khatereh Forouharnejad⁴, Mohammad Amin Najafi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Isfahan Neurosciences Research Center, Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences Isfahan, Iran.
² Department of Neurology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences Isfahan, Iran.
³ School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences Isfahan, Iran.
⁴ School of Medicine, Islamic Azad University of Najaf Abad Branch Isfahan, Iran.

PMID: 35874940
PMCID: PMC9301094

Abstract

Complications are increasingly recognized with SARS-CoV-2, the causative pathogen for COVID-19. Various mechanisms have been proposed to justify the cause of seizures in Covid-19 patients. To our knowledge, 13 cases of status epilepticus (SE) associated with COVID-19 have been reported so far. Here, we present a single-center case series, including the clinical, laboratory, and imaging characteristics, and the EEG and the outcome of SE in 5 Iranian patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 virus. SE was para-infectious in four patients and post-infectious in one other patient. In Three patients, the causes of seizure were included severe hyponatremia, acute ischemic stroke, and meningoencephalitis. However, in two other patients, no specific reason for seizure was found, but there are possibilities for lesser-known mechanisms of Covid-19 that play roles in developing SE. Two of the patients recovered, and three patients, older and with higher comorbidities, failed to recover and died.

Keywords: COVID-19; Status epilepticus; seizures.